Although Spetsgruppa Vympel is one of the more famous Spetsnaz units very little is known about this unit. Both Vympel and Al'fa were special units of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security) better known as the KGB.

Vympel, which means "pennant" or "banner", was created in 1981 as a covert paramilitary unit. The KGB created a number of covert special operations units (called Spetsgruppa) to carry out a variety of tasks. Vympel was subordinate to the KGB's First Chief Directorate (Foreign Operations). The First Chief Directorate was responsible for all international clandestine operations conducted by the KGB. Within this Directorate, Vympel was placed under the Illegals Department, or Department S , which recruited, trained and controlled KGB officers operating covertly in foreign countries. The First Chief Directorate also ran the Executive Action Department, or Department V, which conducted assassinations, snatches and sabotage in enemy territory.

Vympel was tasked with conducting special reconnaissance in enemy territory, assassination or kidnapping of key persons, protection and evacuation of Soviet citizens and establishments in foreign countries as well as training militant and guerrilla groups in unfriendly countries (similar to US Special Forces). Immediately before the outbreak of war, Vympel (along with other spetsnaz groups) would infiltrate enemy territory and sabotage or capture major power plants (hydroelectric, nuclear, etc.), industries, and other infrastructure. Vympel was also tasked with sabotaging military installations as well as rescuing POWs.

Some sources claim that the size of Vympel reached battalion strength (500) while others say there were almost 1000 members operating in units of 10 to 12. Of these, 90% were officers under 42 years of age.

To carry out its missions, Vympel operators underwent extensive and rigorous training. Candidates selected from within the KGB were interviewed and tested extensively. These candidates already possessed extensive formal education. Those who passed went on to basic training. In true spetsnaz style, basic training was brutal. Trainees had to perform 9km morning runs followed by 65 to 70 Km forced marches daily with full combat loads approaching 40kg in freezing weather and often without water.

After two months of basic training, trainees were sent to advanced training, which lasted 3 to 4 years, before they joined the unit. Advanced training included small unit tactics, unarmed combat, edged-weapons, the ability to shoot exceptionally well with any kind of firearm - both foreign and domestic, mountain climbing, combat diving (the instructors were from the Navy's elite Delphin unit), airborne insertion, driving all kinds of vehicles - cars, trucks, tanks, armored vehicles, tractors, helicopters and aircraft, and the use of mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Keeping in mind its mission to sabotage or capture infrastructure, Vympel operators trained to fight in urban terrain such as factories, power plants as well as regular CQB in buildings. Since they would be operating in enemy territory, operators were required to be fluent in at least one foreign language and be able to read and write another. These languages would correspond with their area of operation. This requirement was especially necessary for intelligence gathering and interrogating.

The nucleus of Vympel was a group called Zenith, which was a subgroup of the CounterTerrorist unit Spetsgruppa Al'fa. Zenith was one of two Al'fa subgroups that took part in the 1979 assault on the Dar-ul-aman palace in Afghanistan. At that time it was comprised of 25 men. When Vympel was formed in 1981, it still retained some of its CT/HRT tasks such as rescuing Soviet citizens in foreign countries and POWs.

After the 1991 coup in Moscow, Vympel was transferred to the Main Administration for the Protection of the Russian Federation (GUO), and was involved exclusively in internal counterterrorist, anti-drug and law enforcement operations. However, in 1993, Russian President Boris Yeltzin ordered Vympel and Al'fa to storm the parliament building which was barricaded by dissident ministers. Vympel refused to carry out the raid (which was eventually conducted by Al'fa), thus earning the displeasure of the President. Subsequently, the unit was transferred to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, known as the MVD. Finally, tired of taking orders from "police bureaucrats", the majority of the unit quit and eventually the unit was disbanded.

With what was left of Vympel, the MVD created its own antiterrorist group called Vega. Some reports now say that the SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service), the successor to the KGBs First Chief Directorate, has reformed Vympel - although none of the original members are in it.

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